Demons recruit Steven May has been ruled out for three weeks with a groin injury.
The key defender suffered the injury during his side's loss to Geelong last Saturday night and is not expected back on the field until around round five.
Demons elite performance Manager David Mission confirmed the news to the club website.
“He’s probably likely to miss the next three games — Essendon, Sydney and St Kilda,” Misson told Melbourne Media.
“He’s had some good improvement in the back end of this week which we’ve been encouraged by, but it’s about setting him up for a good year.”
Mission added that Melbourne would take the long-term approach with managing May's injury.
“We don’t want him to be in and out of the team the whole time, as that would potentially put him at risk,” he said.
“So we’ll give him some good reloading time to set him up for a big year, but that means he will miss the next couple of weeks.”
